Truth, lies and falcons

In the "Bred For Success" article, author Stephanie
Paige Ogburn perpetuates a common myth when she writes, "A
well-trained falcon brings the catch (prey) uneaten to its master,
who rewards it with food" (HCN, 11/13/06). Sheer fallacy: Falcons
serve no master and they don’t retrieve.

In
comparing released aplomado falcons to an "annual crop of flowers"
that will need to be "re-seeded" forever, Ogburn misses the mark.
She gripes that of the 1,257 aplomados the Peregrine Fund has
released in Texas over the last decade, only about 100 have paired
up for mating. Ogburn is either unaware of, or has chosen not to
include, some pertinent statistics. Wild raptors (including
aplomados) experience a 70-80 percent mortality rate in their first
year and 20 percent rates thereafter. Pair bonding does not even
begin until the falcons are in their third or fourth year. Further,
rates of dispersal are hard to quantify in free-ranging falcons,
but it’s a safe bet that there are individual and/or aplomado
pairs existing outside of known territories. In other words, a net
gain of 50 known pairs of aplomados is cause for celebration, not
despair.

I understand why some people would like to use
the aplomado as an environmental tool, and I don’t blame
them. But I can also understand why the Peregrine Fund would choose
a "minimal amount of controversy" approach in their conservation
efforts — an approach that has enabled them to be effective
both here and abroad.